After a long and largely uneventful day at the Giro d’Italia, Olav Kooij took the victory on stage nine, claiming the first Grand Tour stage win of his career. The Visma-Lease a Bike rider pipped Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) on the line after the Italian’s teammates had led him out in the finale, but Kooij was able to come out of his slipstream and throw his bike at the line to snatch away the victory.
The young Dutchman is riding his debut Grand Tour at this year’s Giro d’Italia, after having waited for this opportunity for a couple of years now. This victory marks a big step forward in his career and it will be interesting to see whether he will be able to replicate this performance in the sprint stages that are yet to come.
It was a hectic finale, as after an attack by Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step) was caught over the top of the final uncategorised climb with around 8km to go, Jhonatan Narváez (Ineos Grenadiers) went on the attack and managed to hold off the peloton for several kilometres. It looked like he was going to cause an upset and steal the win from the sprinters, but he had nothing left in the run to the line and was caught by the fast men inside the final hundred metres.
HOW IT HAPPENED
It was expected to be highly contested fight to get into the breakaway at the start of the day, but it ended up being a fairly straightforward affair in the end, as two riders from Polti-Kometa in the form of Mirco Maestri and Andrea Pietrobon went up the road. Manuele Tarozzi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) did attempt to bridge across to them, but quickly knocked off his effort and rejoined the peloton.
At 214km in length, stage nine was the second-longest of the race, which is probably why few riders fancied a day of riding out front. The leading duo quickly built up an advantage though, but it was always under the control of the peloton led by Alpecin-Deceuninck, who looked to manage the stage for their sprinter Kaden Groves.
The pace in the peloton did ease for a while and the gap was allowed to go out to as much as nearly four minutes at one point. There were some attempts to liven up the race with around 150km to go, with some accelerations off the front of the peloton on a downhill section of the course, but they were all chased down by Alpecin-Deceuninck, who still maintained their control over the main group.
Those attacks brought the gap to the breakaway down to around two and a half minutes, but the two teammates continued to persist at the head of the race. They would take maximum points at the first intermediate sprint of the day, as well as the Intergiro sprint.
A crash in the peloton through a roundabout with around 58km to go saw Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) held up. He looked fairly unaffected by the incident, with Maximilian Schachmann seemingly the worst off of those involved. Thomas would have an extended chase back on to the main group, as Alpecin-Deceuninck had increased the pace in the peloton for the Intergiro sprint, but he would get back in with around 53km to go.
The sprinters’ teams then began to get organised on the front of the peloton as they approached the foot of the only categorised climb of the day, which was the Monte di Procida. At 4.1km in length with an average gradient of 3.8% and a maximum gradient of 9%, this was going to be the first test for the sprinters in the finale.
Alpecin-Deceuninck hit the climb hard, dropping the likes of Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) and Fabio Jakobsen (dsm-firmenich PostNL) out of the back of the peloton. Pietrobon took maximum points at the top of the climb, as well as the final intermediate sprint with around 30km to go.
Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step) then attacked on a short rise with Nicola Conci (Alpecin-Deceuninck) chasing him down. They caught Pietrobon and Maestri, with Kevin Vermaerke (dsm-firmenich PostNL) and Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ) bridging across from the peloton.
Ewen Costiou (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) then joined up with the breakaway, making it a seven-man group at the head of the race. The young Frenchman would then follow an attack by his compatriot Alaphilippe, with the rest of the breakaway caught by the peloton shortly afterwards.
The two French riders at the front were in sight of the peloton as they reached the foot of the final climb to Posillipo. The bunch was led by Lidl-Trek, who were trying to bring it back together for Jonathan Milan in the sprint. It was clear that they were going to be caught, but Alaphilippe continued to press on, whilst Costiou was distanced and caught by the peloton.
Alaphilippe was then caught as well shortly later, as Jhonatan Narváez (Ineos Grenadiers) launched an attack. More riders attempted to follow the Ecuadorian, but they could not get across to him as he went solo with around 8km to go.
He held off the peloton through the streets of Naples and even extended his gap as the sprinters’ teams started to organise themselves once again. Going into the final kilometre it was looking good for Narváez, but it seemed that he was running out of energy, as the peloton was bearing down on him.
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) then came to the front of the peloton in the maglia rosa to do a leadout for his teammate Juan Sebastián Molano, before Simone Consonni (Lidl-Trek) began his final sprint to leadout Jonathan Milan.
It was heartbreak for Narváez, as he was caught in the final hundred metres and it looked like Milan was going to take the win before Olav Kooij then emerged from his slipstream and threw his bike at the line to pip the Italian on the line. Molano finished in third place after being slightly boxed in by those around him.
All of the general classification contenders finished safely within the peloton, meaning that none of them lost time in the overall standings ahead of the first rest day of the race.
RESULTS: GIRO D’ITALIA 2024, STAGE NINE, AVEZZANO > NAPLES (214KM)
1. Olav Kooij (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 4:44:22
2. Jonathan Milan (Ita) Lidl-Trek
3. Juan Sebastián Molano (Col) UAE Team Emirates
4. Alberto Dainese (Ita) Tudor Pro Cycling
5. Danny van Poppel (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe
6. Madis Mihkels (Est) Intermarché-Wanty
7. Kaden Groves (Aus) Alpecin-Deceuninck
8. Andrea Vendrame (Ita) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale
9. Davide Ballerini (Ita) Astana Qazaqstan
10. Max Kanter (Ger) Astana Qazaqstan, all at same time
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE NINE
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, in 28:14:42
2. Daniel Felipe Martínez (Col) Bora-Hansgrohe, +2:40
3. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, +2:58
4. Ben O’Connor (Aus) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +3:39
5. Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike, +4:02
6. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +4:23
7. Lorenzo Fortunato (Ita) Astana Qazaqstan, +5:15
8. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar, +5:28
9. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Ineos Grenadiers, +5:30
10. Jan Hirt (Cze) Soudal Quick-Step, +5:53
